Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disability Centers (Hill Country MHDD Centers) will sponsor two free seminars about suicide prevention from 9 a.m. to noon Monday, Sept. 9 and from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23 at the McKenna Center, 801 W. San Antonio St., New Braunfels.
Jennifer Nieto, center director of Comal County’s Mental Health Clinic, made the announcement following an emotional speech at Comal County Commissioners Court today,
September is Suicide Prevention Month in Comal County.
According to a proclamation read aloud by Pct. 1 Commissioner Donna Eccleston, Comal County’s Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (MCOT) assessed approximately 800 suicidal individuals over the last 12 months.
Around 280 of those people have attempted suicide in their lifetime.
“I’ve been doing this work for about 15 years, and the heaviness stays with you every call that you take, every person that you’re called to talk to on their hard days,” she said in a brief speech.
“But I have to say that this community has really joined us in partnership to help carry some of that weight.”
Nieto said she’s learned that people who call the crisis hotline for help may already have reached out to someone that they love, whether it be in their home, at school or even the grocery store.
“And so we feel very called to educate every member of our community on how to support somebody, strategies to take, the resources to know about when supporting somebody that’s hurting.”
The numbers on the proclamation may seem high, but they’re also encouraging because it takes a lot of courage for an individual to reach out and ask for help.
“And so I’m also encouraged by those numbers because again I do believe that healing can happen,” she said. “I’m very hopeful about our community’s future, a future that includes new programs and new resources and even new facilities being offered where people can reach out and get help for themselves. And if that help requires hospitalization, new facilities where you can get by right here at home. You don’t have to leave Comal County to go to Austin or San Antonio to get the help and healing that you need.”
Talking about suicide openly and without judgment helps reduce the stigma and save lives, she said.
There is now a national mental-health emergency hotline just like 9-1-1.
Anyone can call 9-8-8, a suicide and crisis lifeline, to be directed to Hill Country MHDD’s crisis team.
“Put that number in your phone because you never know when you’re going to need to use it,” said a member of Nieto’s crisis team.
On its Facebook page, Hill Country MHDD Centers also thanked the McKenna Foundation, Mental Advocacy Partners – Comal County Communities in Schools of South Central Texas and River City Advocacy & Counseling Center for their dedication to suicide prevention.
